The Emergence of Monasticism: From the Desert Fathers to the Early Middle Ages

List of Abbreviations.

1. The Emergence of Christian Eremiticism.

2. The Development of Communal Life.

3. Women in Early Monasticism.

4. The Meaning of Asceticism.

5. The Evolution of Monasticism in the West.

6. The Rule of St Benedicts and its Italian Setting.

7. Britain and Ireland.

8. Irish peregrini and European Monasticism.

9. Monasticism and Society in the Seventh Century.

Bibliography.

Index.